This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Various arrangements are well known in the art for the injection molding of parts. Injection molding is a process for producing parts from materials such as thermoplastics and thermosetting plastics. Raw materials (e.g., plastic granules) are fed into a hopper for deliver to a heated barrel. The raw materials are heated within the barrel to a flowable state. A screw or similar device forces the flowable material into a mold cavity. The flowable material is allowed to at least partially cool and thereby at least partially harden within the mold cavity to a desired configuration.
Depending on the part complexity, a mold cavity may be conventionally defined by one or more mold slides and one or more core posts. These moveable components of known injection molding arrangements may be automatically controlled for purposes of reducing manual labor and thereby reducing or eliminating human error. If practical, it is generally desirable to also automate of removing the molded part from the mold cavity.
While known injection molding arrangements have proven to be successful for their intended purposes, a continuous need in the pertinent art remains. For example, injection molded parts of various geometries still conventionally require a degree of human interaction for purposes of removing the molded part from the mold cavity.